


To Hold the World in Your Hands

by Magical_Persona



Category: Trollhunters (Cartoon)
Genre: M/M, Slow Burn, That's the goal, hopefully
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-17
Updated: 2018-08-17
Packaged: 2019-06-28 20:08:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15714201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Magical_Persona/pseuds/Magical_Persona
Summary: When Eli and Steve started the Creepslayerz it seemed as though it was out of necessity. Now that they've been working together and doing more than slaying creeps something is starting to grow between them. Like a fungus or a toothache or love?





	To Hold the World in Your Hands

Eli blinked as the evening sun glared through the slats in the locker door drawing even lines across his face. He struggled to find a position in the locker that would let him see what was going on. This locker was tight, his shoulders were catching on the poorly folded metal corners. It must have been a bottom locker. The bottom lockers were always a few centimeters smaller and it made maneuvering harder than usual.

As he was shifting into a better position the locker flew open and Eli rolled, hitting his head on the concrete walkway.

“Eli!” Toby screeched. “I thought you were a goblin! I almost smashed you.”

Sure enough, there was Toby standing over him with the shrunken war hammer in his hands. Eli rubbed the back of his head as he waited for the world to stop spinning. At least the fall wasn’t as bad as the time he’d fallen form Jim’s locker. That had hurt. His mother almost took him to the hospital, thinking he broke something.

“Hi, Toby,” Eli said, bouncing up when the world was once again righted. “Sorry I scared you. Did you know your locker has some weird gunk on the top of it? I think it’s old watermelon gum. It makes your locker smell better than the others.”

Toby shook his head, not remarking on the gum. Honestly, Eli would be the one to know and it wasn’t really his fault. “Did Steve put you in there again?”

Eli shrugged as he stretched, rotating his shoulders. Those lockers were so cramped, sitting in one too long made your back hurt. “You’re here late.”

Toby shouldered his backpack. If Eli didn’t want to talk about it then he’d leave it be, for now. Eventually, Eli would have to come to terms with standing up for himself. “Grandma thought it would be better for me to have tutors after school, so I could catch up on what I missed.”

Eli nodded, following Toby through the gates. “You know, if you ever need help with school you can ask.”

“Is that a thing the Creepslayerz are doing now?” Toby asked. Okay, so maybe he was still trying to get at the root of why Eli even worked with Steve. The dude was a menace. All Steve ever did was torment poor Eli. Them hanging out and working together didn’t make any sense. Maybe Steve was one of those guys who was different when you got him away from his friends? Darcy said there were plenty of girls like that at the school, surely it was possible for guys to be the same way.

“No,” Eli replied, adjusting his glasses. “I’m offering as your friend. School comes easily for me, so I don’t mind helping if I can.”

“Thanks,” Toby replied with a smile. “I might take you up on that.”

Eli smiled in return before running down the street. He and Toby lived in opposite directions and while it would have been nice to have someone to walk with the only other person who lived this way was Steve. Steve would never let Eli walk home with him. They had to keep up appearances. No one could know they were working together or people might get suspicious. Then any creatures needing a safe place to hide could be doomed. It was better to shoulder the burden of Steve’s bullying. He’d been doing it since they’d met, so why was he just now trying to find reasons? It wasn’t something new. He could handle this.

Eli wasn’t able to relax until his front door closed behind him. Something about having that heavy fake wood behind him gave him comfort. He knew most of the creepers could probably get through it, but it made him feel safe. Like when a child hides under the blanket from the monsters. Sure, the blanket won’t protect them, but it makes them feel better about being defenseless.

He sighed. Was that why he felt this way? Did he feel defenseless? He shouldn’t. He’d made it through trolls, goblins, and weird blob monsters. He could make it through anything.

“Where have you been?” Eli’s mom snapped from the kitchen. “School ended hours ago!”

“Sorry, Mom,” Eli mumbled. “I was at the library. We have a big test coming up and I wanted to make sure I knew everything.”

“Did your friend come home with you today?” She asked, setting two places at the table.

“He’s not my friend, Mom,” Eli replied. “We’re just working on a group project together.”

“You should be friends with him,” She sounded certain. “He’s a good kid. I bet the two of you get along just fine. I hear it when the two of you get excited about that show you guys watch.”

Eli looked at the food on the table, passing it in favor of washing his hands. If his mom saw him sit before doing so she’d have his head. Then, he ate. Dinner was a silent affair with his mom asking how school was and him refusing to respond with nothing more than ‘okay.’ He didn’t talk about school with her.

It wasn’t that he didn’t love his mother. He did. It’s just that she was…a little overprotective. If she found out someone was bullying him she’d flip. Probably call the office and get Steve in trouble. That would only make it worse for Eli on the other end of things. It was better if she thought his classes were boring and all those times he got stuck in a locker overnight he had actually fallen asleep at the library.

He looked down his fork to where his mom sat. Lying was wrong, but this was different. Right? This was to keep everything as normal as possible. So, that had to make it at least a little okay. Besides, it wasn’t really lying. School hadn’t changed in the years they’d been here. If it wasn’t Steve throwing him in a locker it was someone tripping him in the halls or pushing him off the stage.

When his plate was cleaned Eli trudged upstairs to actually work on his homework. He’d managed to finish most of it in class and only had a few more math problems. They shouldn’t take him too long and they weren’t due until next week, but he wanted them done. With Creepslayerz now taking up more of his time he could never be sure what would happen. It was always better to finish his homework before everything went wrong. Something he wished Steve would take into account sometimes.

He laid his head on his book when he finished. There was something about math that just drained your energy. Even when he understood the concepts, only being able to fit three problems on a single page was tiring.


End file.
